Monday, October 11, 2010

I am in my simple phase. I want to simplify my life. I have been on a cleaning bender while my husband has been out of town. I have been cleaning closets, filing papers, throwing out junk and donating. I want simplicity. Streamlined Organization is my dream. I keep thinking of the people in Africa and how they live so...simply. Not us Americans! We have SO much junk. Overabundance is commonplace here. Well...not for this family. I am no Martha Stewart {wish I was} but I do indulge in the fantasy of a perfectly tidy home. I envision neat color coordinated bins with all our stuff living perfectly inside. I want to wake up to my home looking like one of those cute little cottages you only find in a magazine. You know the ones that have no humans under the age of 40 occupying them!

I am a simple girl. I live in my rainbow sandals and love comfortable soft fabrics. My dress is casual, as is our home. Beachy Keen is our theme. Soft blues and greens and shades of sand, comfy fluffy pillows and dreamy soft blankets. I am all about comfort. Lately my kids "junk" has been swallowing up our lil 900 sq ft of space that we now call home. Try as I might to file things in their little bins, things keep finding their way out and littering my space. I am reaching the point of no return and have threatened to just pitch things. Our new rule is: If I find it on the floor - it's gone forever!{well not forever ever...but don't tell them that}

My goal is to be all "simplified" before Thanksgiving hits. Wish me luck. My kids {and hubby} like to hold on to some of the most random stuff. My hubby is a box keeper. He keeps the boxes to everything {as if we will EVER put them back in the box they came in}. Well, while he has been away - I have done gone crazy clearing out all the unwanted cardboard. WOW! I have reclaimed some much needed closet shelving! Yipeee! Wonder if he will even notice? Perhaps not.

Maybe my paranoia has developed from laying in bed alone into the wee hours and watching "Hoarders". What a trip! I just can not bear the thought of massive amounts of stuff taking over my living space. Ewwww. More creepy than the show "Sister Wives"...don't even get me started on THAT. Anyway, back to the topic. I found this great site called Zen Habits. Their motto is "smile, breathe, go slowly." Works for me. Check out the25 Ways To Simplify Your Life With Kids.

I love a bunch of them but especially love #25.

Focus on doing, not on spending. Too often we send messages to our kids about how to live life, based on what we do: we like to go shopping, and eat out, and go to the movies, and so our kids learn that having fun means spending money. We focus on material things, and therefore so do they. Instead, teach them (by talking but also by your actions) that what’s important is doing stuff, not buying stuff. Go for walks in the park, play outdoors, play board games, read, tell stories, play charades, cook and clean, go to the beach or lake, build stuff, wash the car. Spend quality time together, doing stuff that doesn’t cost money.

AMEN! Tomorrow we are doing just that. Taylor is coming for a home visit and given the nature of his last visit - I told him he had to be of assistance to me. SO, he is helping me tackle the mountain of laundry and cleaning the bathrooms tomorrow! Yea! Turner and Trevan enjoy their chores {surprise} so we will kick off the day with cleaning and scrubbing everything that I have not gotten to. I have a new love, the Clorox Handi Wipes. Can't clean enough with my reusable cloth heavy wipes. Bye Bye dish rags and sponges! See, I am easy to please! At a buck sixty nine, you can't go wrong. Simple pleasures... gotta love them.

Well, it has been a long day and I have bored you enough with my ranting...I have cleaning to do tomorrow. Off to bed now {I will forgo "Hoarders"} don't want to have nightmares!

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Welcome...

I am Janean.Just Janean.No one famous.No one special. I have had my share of bumps and bruises on the path we call life. I choose joy. Although there are many days I have to work at it.Sometimes it does not choose me.I have vowed to take a journey this year. A journey to a new me! I do not profess to be an expert on anything. I am just like you. I am a wife of 20 years. I am a mom to 4 boys. Somewhere I lost myself. I want to find me.I love people and enjoy making people happy. I hope you find some inspiration, a smile and a laugh here and there!

Enjoy my journey!xoxoJanean

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